Red Sox midseason superlatives

At the All-Star break, the Red Sox are a perfectly mediocre 43-43. To the uninitiated and naive, that might suggest there have been an equal number of positive and negative developments during the 2012 season. Yeah, not quite. While there have been some moments and performances worth remembering—anyone start a Pedro Ciriaco fan club yet?—there's been more bad than good for a team that was expected to far exceed .500 at this point. Here are 10 bests and worsts from the season so far, with more of the latter than former.
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AP

Best arrival: Will Middlebrooks
<br>Middlebrooks entered the season as the Red Sox' top prospect (according to Baseball America) and the third baseman of the future, but his sizzling start at Pawtucket accelerated the timetable to third baseman of the present. In 100 at-bats with the PawSox, he hit 9 homers with an OPS of 1.057. He made his big league debut May 2, homered in his third game, then hit two more in his fourth. Soon, incumbent third baseman Kevin Youkilis was former Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis.
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AP

Worst departure: Kevin Youkilis
<br>Considering that Jed Lowrie (Astros) and Josh Reddick (A's) have combined for 34 home runs and 79 RBIs, it would be understandable to suggest trading either during the offseason was regrettable, though it says here the jury is still deliberating. Instead, I'll nominate a player who probably won't haunt the Red Sox long-term, but one who was an important part of some terrific Red Sox teams during his seven-plus seasons here. Yes, trading Kevin Youkilis was the right thing to do. But it sure is weird seeing him in that White Sox uniform, and the sense that Bobby Valentine ran him out of here is going to linger.
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Worst underperformer, pitcher: Jon Lester
<br>He's allowing more than a hit per inning, something he hasn't done since his rookie season, 2006. His strikeout rate is his lowest since 2008. He has the highest career winning percentage among all active pitchers, but a losing record this year. He's supposed to be the ace, the Red Sox' answer to CC Sabathia and David Price, but right now he's not even the answer to Ivan Nova and Jeremy Hellickson. And he seems downright miserable. A sure-thing has turned into an enigma. What's going on here, Jon Lester?
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Worst underperformer, hitter: Adrian Gonzalez
<br>The notion that he can't play in Boston is a foolish one—he led the league in hits last year (213) while hitting .338 with 27 homers and 117 RBIs. But that's tough to remember now given Gonzalez's bizarre power outage. The 30-year-old first baseman has just six homers this season, his OPS (.745) is more than 200 points lower than his final number last year, and he has just a .416 slugging percentage. He is leading the league in doubles (27), but that's almost a laughably small consolation from a player who has just two more homers than backup catcher Kelly Shoppach.
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John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe

Best surprise, hitter: Daniel Nava
<br>Presumably few outside of perhaps Nava's extended family expected to see him in the majors this season, at least with the Red Sox, an organization that didn't even deign to invite the 29-year-old outfielder to big-league camp this spring. But the relentless injuries to various outfielders ahead of him on the depth chart gave him an opportunity, and did he ever take advantage of it. He had a .900 OPS in May, essentially duplicated the performance with an .892 OPS in June, and while he's cooled off lately, he's still hitting .275 with a .388 on-base percentage. He's proven he belongs in the big leagues.
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AP

Best surprise, pitcher: Felix Doubront
<br>The Red Sox' rotation is littered with underachievers, which is why it is a mixed blessing that the 24-year-old lefty leads the club in wins (9), ERA (4.41), and strikeouts (97), and his 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings ranks fourth in the American League.
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Barry Chin/The Boston Globe

Worst meltdown, individual game: Blown 9-run lead versus Yankees
<br>The Red Sox took a 9-0 lead in the sixth inning and a 9-1 advantage into the seventh. But the Yankees scored seven times in the seventh off the Red Sox bullpen, then piled on seven more runs in the eighth, scoring 15 unanswered in all to humiliate the Red Sox April 21 at Fenway. "I think we've hit bottom," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said after the loss, which dropped the Sox to 4-10. "If this isn't bottom, we need to find some new ends of the earth."
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AP

Worst meltdown, individual player: Daniel Bard
<br>The hard-throwing righthander was one of the best setup men in baseball from 2009-11. In 24 appearances last June and July, he didn't allow a single earned run. But he longed to start, and the Red Sox gave him a shot in the rotation this year. The result was their worst nightmare, one that is still ongoing. While Bard did have his moments during his 10 starts, he had a 5.30 ERA, walked (36) more batters than he struck out (34), and he's yet to recover from a meltdown June 3 in Toronto (1.2 innings, 6 walks). He's currently in Pawtucket, which surely feels much farther than 45 miles from Boston.
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Best recurring theme: Help from unexpected sources
<br>Really, that's been just about the only rewarding aspect of following this team. Whether it was the outfield boost provided by Daniel Nava and journeyman Scott Podsednik, the early production of shortstop Mike Aviles, the emergence of Scott Atchison, Matt Albers, and Andrew Miller in the bullpen, or the recent arrival of infielder Pedro Ciriaco (seven hits in his first three games), the Sox have received plenty of help from the supposed supporting cast. Our favorite unexpected development? The three consecutive terrific starts by Franklin Morales, though that optimism was tempered by a rough start versus the Yankees his last time out.
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Worst recurring theme: Injuries
<br>Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford have played a combined seven games, or seven more than [insert the name of your all-time favorite past Red Sox player] this season. Dustin Pedroia has missed a dozen games and will likely miss at least a dozen more with new thumb injury after trying to play through his first one with dismal results. Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett, the since-traded Kevin Youkilis and Cody Ross are among the 20 different Red Sox players—a major-league high—to spend time on the disabled list. Injuries are far from the only reason for the disappointing .500 record, but they are a legitimate one.
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